The Effects of Tattoos in Human Sexuality Research Paper

The Effects of Tattoos in Human Sexuality - Research Paper Example It has become a way of expression of one’s thoughts, beliefs, and feelings. â€Å"A tattoo is a puncture wound, made deep in your skin, thats filled with ink. Its made by penetrating your skin with a needle and injecting ink into the area, usually creating some sort of design.† (The Nemours Foundation, 2012, para.1). This makes one think how ink can last so long. The uppermost layer of skin is called the epidermis. The cells of the epidermis continue to degenerate and then regenerate, as the skin sheds and forms again. The ink of tattoo is not injected in this layer. It is injected in the second layer, which is called the dermis, whose cells are very stable and do not shed. This makes the ink stay potentially longer, or permanently, in the dermis. Mukerji and Schudson (1991, p. 3) define pop culture as â€Å"beliefs and practices, and the objects through which they are organized, that are widely shared among a population†. They state that these beliefs, practices and material stuff may be local customs upholding folk material, or these may be customs and traditions on a commercial scale. So, it may be folk culture or mass culture, where the former is generated by people and is authentic, and the latter is generated commercially and is relatively unauthentic. Tattoos have become a part of the folk popular culture, because everybody seems to be tattooing- mothers, fathers, children, students, businessmen, bad boys, and good boys. The popular culture has made tattoos a widely accepted concept in workplaces and educational institutes. The concept of tattoos is no longer restricted with sailors, gangsters, prisoners, and the rapper Lil Wayne. People from all backgrounds are having tattoos, and some of them are having extens ive tattoo coverage, which is quite expensive too. People, today, do not frown upon people who have a tattoo here and there, on neck, arm, or ankle, as